The Western Wall Enters the Twitter Age

The Western Wall has entered the Twitter age with a service that lets people world wide send their prayers to be placed as notes in the wall.

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Yehudah Lev Kay, 26/07/09 16:26

Notes in wall

Israel news photo: (file)

The Western Wall, the last remnant of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, has entered the Twitter age with a service that lets people from around the world send their prayers to be printed and placed as notes in the wall.

The service is based on the custom of people of all faiths to place hand-written notes in the Western Wall with their prayers. The Western Wall became a place of Jewish prayer following the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and today is a focus for Jewish worship in Jerusalem.

The new Twitter Western Wall service was started by Alon Nir from Tel Aviv, who has dedicated himself to printing out the thousands of prayers people “tweet” to his Twitter account and placing them in the cracks of the wall.

“I never had a Twitter account,” Nir said, “and I could never figure out what it was good for. Then during the riots in Iran, the whole world saw how Twitter could cause a revolution, even if that’s not what the makers of Twitter had ever intended.”

“I started thinking about the huge potential in Twitter,” he continued. “I asked myself – what can I do that is innovative, creative and beneficial to the people of Israel and the State of Israel? Then this idea popped into my head.”

Nir explained that his Twitter site has since become immensely popular, and he now receives thousands of “tweets” with prayers a day. He is looking for volunteers or sponsors for his program, which he wants to maintain as a free-of-charge service.

The Western Wall Twitter service opened just over two weeks ago, coinciding with the three weeks when Jews traditionally mourn the destruction of the two Temples. The three weeks end this Thursday, on the Ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, when Jews fast to mourn the day on which both Temples were destroyed.

Prayers can be posted directly to Alon’s Twitter group at http://twitter.com/theKotel. Alternatively, private prayers can be sent by email to tweetyourprayers@gmail.com. Alon encourages people to publicize their prayers, however, so that others can pray for them as well.